The Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act of 2001 : its effects and the implications for workers and trade unions in Ireland (original) (raw)
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This thesis concerns the Industrial Relations (Amendment) Act of 2001, its effects on workers and implications for trade unions in Ireland. The legislation provides a means of resolving the substantive issues in dispute between workers and employers when employers refuse to recognise the trade union articulating those issues. It may also deal with procedural issues but may not provide for collective bargaining. In abeyance since 2007 due to legal challenges, and amid Government commitments to return the Act to its original intent, this thesis seeks to provide an evidence based response to the various calls for the Act’s amendment or replacement. A mixed methods approach contributed to an extensive examination of the cases taken under the Act: - • Documentary analysis of all Labour Court Recommendations issued • A tracing of each workplace back to the union which referred the case • A survey of union officials currently or potentially responsible for the members at workplaces where cases had previously been taken • Interviews with union members, activists and staff in ten selected cases The Labour Court Recommendations, in complying with the terms of the Act, must and do accept non-union fora for the resolution of collective issues and effectively corral trade unions into individual representation, managing misbehaviour and exit. Focussing also on the aftermath of the Labour Court Recommendations afforded a unique understanding of the effects on workers and their trade unions; the effects of the process in addition to the effects of the written outcome. The research found that the majority of workplaces no longer have union members. Those still in membership display low levels of density and of activism and a distinct link is demonstrated between the union organising approach and such outcomes in each case. Those campaigns conducted with a greater emphasis on mobilisation or organising model techniques, where the referral under the 2001 Act was just one element in a broad campaign were more successful in achieving collective bargaining and better membership density and activism levels. The study recommends caution regarding sole reliance on the procedures provided by the Act.
Trade union recognition in late 20th century Ireland
Saothar - Journal of the Irish Labour History Society, 2015
At a time of trade union commemoration of pivotal labour history events such as the 1913 Lockout, it is important also to examine the question of union recognition in more recent Irish history. To an interesting extent, it is a question underpinned by constitutional provisions and by legal argument. The Irish Constitution, Bunreacht na Éireann, (1937), provides inter alia that ‘(the) State guarantees liberty for the exercise of...the right of the citizens to form associations and unions’ (Article 40.6.iii). However, the evolving story of trade union rights and freedoms in post-independence Ireland is also shaped by various legal rulings, challenges and interpretations. For instance, the Courts seek to interpret the constitutional right of citizens to form associations and unions in the context of no corresponding obligation on the part of employers to recognise such associations and unions while individual disputes cast long shadows. This article aims, therefore, to examine the complex story of trade union recognition in more recent Irish labour history. In so doing, it situates the question of union recognition in the context of its constitutional framework, the origins and decline of the voluntarist system of industrial relations, and the shifting fortunes of trade unions and consequent industrial disputes in late twentieth century Ireland.
British trade unions in Ireland
Industrial Relations Journal, 1989
This article examines various influences on the orgatlisation of British trade unions in Ireland. The constitution of the ICTU is considered in the context of the drive towards an Irish-based and controlled trade union movement. The organisational response of British-based unions to these nationalist pressures is assessed using union rule books and interviews with trade union officials. * Plans have recently been announced for a merger of the ITGWU and the FWUI.
Industrial relations in Northern Ireland: a survey
Industrial Relations Journal, 1984
Industrial relations in Northern Ireland: a survey This survey finds that the legal and institutional framework and industrial relations practice in Northern Ireland have only been marginally affected by civil strife and continue to evolve in line with developments in Britain. HIS paper is intended as a general survey of T industrial relations in Northern Ireland. Its main theme is that the legal and institutional framework and the day to day practice of industrial relations follow fairly closely the standard British pattern [ 1 I. The industrial relations environment in Northern Ireland is similar to that in other UK development regions which have been faced with declining employment in traditional industries, expanding employment in the service sector and a higher than average level of unemployment. Civil strife has caused some distortions in the pattern of employment, but generally speaking industrial relations have only been marginally affected by it and have continued to evolve in line with developments in Britain. * The main outstanding differences not dealt with below are in the legal status of trade unions: in the special rules re 'ex parte' injunctions and in the fact that Section 4 of the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act 1875 still applies in Northern Ireland * The President of the Northern Ireland Industrial Court attends briefing meetings of the CAC.
Union recognition and partnership at work: a new legitimacy for Irish trade unions?
Industrial Relations Journal, 2005
In the Irish context of national partnership and the promotion of workplace partnership at firm level, unions might be expected to have achieved, at least, a pragmatic acceptance by employers. Using a survey of full-time union officials in eight trade unions organising in the private sector, this paper reports their experiences of recent recognition campaigns. Employer opposition appears to have intensified, and in a substantial percentage of cases has involved the victimisation of activists. In facilitating employees to make a free choice regarding union representation, the Codes of Practice and the Industrial Relations Amendment Act 2001 are regarded by the majority of officials as inadequate. A majority of officials favoured the introduction of a statutory right to recognition. Non-union firms appear as 'free riders' that have enjoyed the benefits of national partnership but evaded the compromises and concessions that necessarily characterise such agreements. If left unchecked, the free-rider phenomenon could undermine the institutional framework on which partnership is based.
Representation, Bargaining and the Law: Where Next For the Unions?
International Employment & Labor Law eJournal, 2009
This article examines the state of the law relating to trade union rights to negotiate on behalf of members employed in Irish firms where the employer refuses to recognise the union(s) in question. The article examines the operation of the Industrial Relations Amendment Acts 2001-2004, which aimed to chart a course between the traditional, Anglo-Saxon voluntary bargaining model and the statutory bargaining model (introduced in the UK in 1999). An empirical approach is used, involving a detailed examination of the Labour Court’s day-to-day operation of the legislation from its introduction in 2001 until the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision in Ryanair v. the Labour Court in 2007. The position in Ireland remains unique in the Western world in that the law does not provide any protection for collective bargaining rights; the Acts, therefore, still represent the only legally binding mechanism for members in non-union workplaces to have their union represent their interests (albeit...